THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Lord Father God creator and sustainer of all things, all knowing and all
seeing God we come to you now and lay our lifes before you as gifts, you who
take gifts from men also give gifts to men.
You who lead us in triumphant procession, you who takes captives into captivity
, you the great time traveller, you the great " I AM ", you are our Father and
creator and we give this time to you now as you give us this time
In Jesus name amen
Lets start by asking some questions...
What is your spiritual gift ?
Have you got one ?
What gift would you desire ?
How would you use this gift ?
We come to psalm 2 and we read
Psalm 2 (New International Version)
1 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together
against the LORD and against his Anointed One.
3 "Let us break their chains," they say, "and throw off their fetters."
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.
5 Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
6 "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill."
7 I will proclaim the decree of the LORD :He said to me, "You are my Son ;
today I have become your Father.
8 Ask of me,and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the
earth your possession.
9 You will rule them with an iron scepter ;you will dash them to pieces
like pottery."
10 Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.Blessed are all who take refuge in
him.
This is from the mouth of God amen
THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
Our God has always been and always will be, He lives in the eternity of
eternities, He is the Father of Lights, He is the omnipresent all knowing
, all seeing God.YOU CANNOT SURPRISE GOD..
He walks behind us, ahead of us, beside us and He is in us, He is in all
things all the time, not just in all things but in all times at once.
He stands before time and after time and created time for us, He is bigger
than any problem you face at this present time, He is bigger than satan,
satan is created and so too the demons who were once angelic beings, at some
point in eternity God created these angelic beings to serve Him.
These angelic beings also had free will and rebelled and so in Gods great plan
He threw them down onto the earth that He loved into being that through His
Son we might be freed from this captive snare and be led in His train and freed
from bondage and sin and death.
You see this is Psalm 2...Psalm 2 is david proclaiming and prophesying of the
Jesus who was to come, this is our God speaking through the King...The Prophet.
...and the Shepherd..The Psalmist...through David and saying...
" Hear all who are held in bondage and fear of death...I am sending my Son to
set you free and lead you in triumphant procession, to lead you and set you
free from sin ..my Son will set you free from satan and his demons"
Only through Christ can we be set free from this captivity and enter into this
train , taking every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
Putting it simply " It is pointless having free will unless we have a choice,
we have a choice to desire... the testimony of Jesus ....
For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Revelation 19:10)
Or to follow our own ways and will which leads to death....
YOU HAVE A CHOICE...WE ALL HAVE A CHOICE...love will not force...love is not
dictatorship...
Have you ever tried to own someone ? have you ever tried to win someones
loves ? have you ever tried to make someone love you ? have you ever treated
someone as a possession ?
You know if you go down to the sea and walk along the shore and take some sand
in your hand and hold it gently in your hand it will glimmer in the sun.
But if you squeeze the sand tightly and try to hold onto that sand by clasping
it tight ...it will fall away between your fingers and you will loose it.
Gods love for you is...a love that holds you in His hand gently watching
and nurturing you ...
And so we look at Psalm 2...
And we take a glimpse at the Gifts of the Holy Spirit...
You say " what has Psalm 2 got to do with the gifts ?
Well prophesy is a gift, but the greatest gift of all is love and God is love,
the greatest gift is God and the salvation He gives, here in Psalm 2 we see
this gift announced and proclaimed..
You know I've always avoided doing studies or messages " as I prefer to call
them " on " Holy Spirit Giftings "
Because this subject is so vast and the Holy Spirit Gifts are to do with
relationship !!
We seek God first and always seek God first, we seek the creator first and always
seek the creator, not the gift first
Some have said " I had a gift but it seems God is'nt using me anymore ? its
like the gift has been taken away ? "
Well firstly God does'nt take a gift away and secondly we need to look at
our relationship with God first, it may be that God wants to use us in other
ways as well and we tend to hold onto this gift until like the sand it seems
to disappear ( but it has'nt), only once we learn to love the creator first
and foremost do we see that God has far bigger plans for us.
Gifts are to do with relationship, as we draw nearer to God so God draws
nearer to us, as we draw nearer to God so Jesus draws nearer to us, as we draw
nearer to God so the Holy Spirit draws nearer to us...as we draw nearer to
God so the gifts of the Holy Spirit draw nearer to us !!!
WHAT ?
Yes God is not far from any of us and yet as we draw nearer to Him He draws
nearer to us and in so doing everything that is in God draws nearer to us.
You say " We have the Holy Spirit in us ? " yes you do....but can you honestly
say that everything you speak is from the Holy Spirit ?
Let me give you a few examples of Holy Spirit working....
You know God can use the giftings of the Holy Spirit in an internet enviroment
in fact it has more impact because you cannot see or hear the person you
are speaking too.
Once while just sitting watching conversations in a chat room as a monitor,
I had a picture or vision of someone painting a picture and I won't go into
detail ...but I pm'd ( sent a private message ) this person and told them the
picture I had seen.
" Wow " they said ...I've just finished painting a picture like that..I'm an
artist you see ? "
On another occassion a similiar thing happened and I described the again a
picture to someone in a pm...." what ? " they said ..." I have a picture like
that on my wall "
You see God was talking to that person but using me as a vessel, because just
maybe my relationship with God enabled me to hear God speaking
..... whereas
that person was not hearing God...so God used me to speak to that person and in
so doing that person realised that it had to be God speaking, becasue there
was no way I would have known otherwise.
These people recommitted their lifes there and then becasue they realised that
God was not just a figure in an old dusty bible somewhere on a shelf in the
living room but was actually alive and real and suddenly God became alive to
them and suddenly revival started in the heart.
You see in Psalm 2, God speaks to the Psalmist David and David prophecies...
,,,prophesy is simply God speaking through someone to someone else....
David here is talking about Jesus...
While I was thinking and pondering on this message over a period of a month
I kept getting this scripture ..Eph 4:4..now we won't go through the whole
scripture but lets look on some points for focus..
Ephesians 4 (New International Version)
You see Paul writes about how he was a prisoner for the Lord ?
Eph 4:4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope
when you were called— 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism...
8This is why it says:"When he ascended on high,he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men.
11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets,
some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
And this chapter goes onto "children of light" as He is the " Father of
lights "
But this was the scripture that kept coming to me
8This is why it says:"When he ascended on high,he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men. ?
Over and over again this scripture came to my mind and I wondered what it meant.
Well the week I was due to type this message...I went to Church on Sunday
morning and we were each handed a printout !!
On the piece of paper was this very scripture ? typed out onto the page !!
Ephesians 4....and it jumped at me...this very scripture was in front of me..
8This is why it says:"When he ascended on high,he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men. ?
umm ok ? God is speaking ..I think..
I believe this is the message God wants me to bring ?
And so we look at Ephesians 4:4
Do you know that Paul turned this scripture around in Ephesians ? why ?
Its actually in Psalms
Psalm 68:18-22 (New International Version)
18 When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train; you received
gifts from men, even from the rebellious— that you, O LORD God, might
dwell there.
ahhh...Gifts FROM men ?
But Paul writes ....Gifts to men ? in Ephesians ?
This is about relationship and as we give ourselves to God so too God gives His
gifts to us...two way...relationship....?
So guess what the message was at our Church on sunday ? I leave you to guess !!
And yes " God spoke through the pastor about " relationship "
Simply Christ dieing on the Cross and rising from death to life ..free's us
from the prison and leads us into the resurrection life of Christ...
This resurrection life makes availbale to us all that is in Christ....
Now some Christian believe that the giftings of the Holy Spirit are not for
today becasue they have seen no evidence in their own experience ...
Some believe that the giftings are only for a few selected and as often
quoted " the Spirit gives as the Spirit wills "
Some believe the Giftings are for all....
I look at it like this....
When my children were younger I might have taken them to a shop, and they might
have been really enthusiastic and excited looking at all the toys and games and
I might say " wow dad we'll take the lot "
But I would have been unwise to buy my daughter an xbox game when she was 5
years old as much as it would be unwise for me too buy my daughter now at 18
years of age some leggo bricks.
You see God knows what we can handle and so the Spirit gives as the Spirit
wills...this does not mean that God cannot give a 5 year old tongues to
praise nor does it mean that the gifts are not available to all
You see the gifts are there waiting...but God is far more interested in us,
in our character, in our building up, in our growth... in our maturing..
Gods word tells us to seek the gifts, to seek the greater ....
Be careful !!! do you realise what this means ?
I sometimes think people would be more careful if they realised that maybe !!
not always but maybe there is a training course ahead, that maybe being a
prophet might mean " AHHHH WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO MEEEEEEEE, WHY IS EVERYTHING
GOING WRONGGGGGGG "
You know ?
like the person who prayed for patience and it was tested !!
Or like the person who prayed for fruit and instead got hit on the head by one
Maybe with the sweet odour of the rose ..there is also a thorn ?
You see we look at the external things and cry out " WHY IS THIS HAPPENING
TO ME LORD "
" WHY DO BAD THINGS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE "
But God has a greater plan...you see you can't take anything with you when you
leave this earth except yourself, God is more interested in YOU,
It is not what you go through but how you react and go through problems
God wants you to grow .......THEN when you are ready....God might say "YES
you are ready now.
Now I want to try and give you an illustration to boast about God
There is nothing wrong in boasting about what God can do...in fact Paul did
this often...DON'T BE FRIGHTENED OF BOASTING ABOUT GOD .
You see the giftings are not you, the gifts are from God . they are God using
you, these gifts come out of " RELATIONSHIP "
We looked last month at " Talking to God and God talking back ? "
This is exactly what David did...he talked to God and God talked back..
This relationship grew and God talked to David and then it goes further..
God spoke through David...and now we see David as a Shepherd, a King and a
Prophet.
As the shepherd David was being nurtured and trained and tested ...learning
to listen to God and learning to hear His voice and respond, as a King he was
learning and as a Prophet
This all starts from responding to God and learning to listen to God and as
we grow in relationship and talk to God and hear God speak back ?
As we draw nearer to God and God draws nearer to us ?
You see how it grows ? you see how it develops ?
God begins speaking through us...tongues are a gift that can be received at
salvation, tongues are simply The Holy Spirit speaking through us to God.
But lets stick to prophesy for this message
Now then I want to give you an illustration.
To show how big and how mighty and how great God is and maybe also to blow
your minds.
Now this is a very simply illustration but one that maybe might just show you
a snippet of our God and how big He is.
You will need an a4 piece of paper, cut this piece of paper into 4, so you have
four squares, on the first piece of paper write " God "
On the second piece of paper write " Psalmist "
On the third piece of paper write " Beginning of time "
On the fourth piece of paper write " End of time "
Now place your piece of paper with " Beginning of time " on your left in front
of you....!!
Place the piece of paper with " End of time " on the right in front of you !!
Now God lives in eternity ? God lives outside of time !!
but created time for us !!
God can step into the time He created ...so in effect God is in time and in
eternity....time is in eternity and eternity is in time !!
As a thousand years can be like a day and a day as a thousand years, because
God can make a split second seem as or be as eternity ...
This is why we may be surprised when we meet the Lord and we see others we
never thought we would see and we might notice some are missing whom we assumed
would be there, as even in the last dying breathe as a person leaves this world
and goes onto the next God can make those last few seconds as long as He wishes.
And in those last few seconds that seem like eternity to that person God can
speak and a soul can be saved...
Now if you are not already confused ...lets continue..
Place your piece of paper with " God " written on it , at the left side of
your left piece of paper.
So you have " God " to the left of " beginning of time "
And so we have God in eternity before He created time ?
Now place " God " on the right side of " End of time "
Now you have God at the end of time as we know it ...
Now put God in the middle of the two pieces of paper...now you have God in time
Now God is all knowing and all seeing and is omnipresent. all powerful and all
knowledgeable...
Now place the " Psalmist " in the middle of " time "
That is between " Beginning and ending "
God can be at the beginning of time and look through time and speak to the
Psalmist ( you ) and God can be at the ending of time and speak to the
" Psalmist " or God can be in time with the Psalmist....
In fact God can be
in all places at the same time and speak from all places at the same time,
and is in all places at the same time
God is the great time traveller and can be anywhere at the same time within time
and outside of time.
In fact when you leave this earth and you meet Jesus face to face, you will
see and meet and know ...not just those who have known and followed Jesus,
but you will see and know all those in your own family that have gone centuries
before you who were ever conceived.
You will also see and know those who have gone after you ..who had not even
been born in your lifetime and that you had never met before, so in effect
you could meet your daughters daughters daughters daughters daughters daughters
daughter or your sons sons sons sons son, because you have stepped out of time
and into eternity.
You see God is in the New Heavens and the New Earth NOW...
WHAT ? YOU SAY ? " BUT GOD HAS'NT CREATED IT YET ? " no He has'nt ...not
in your time anyway.
But He is there and in fact YOU are there too with Him !!
" WHAT ? "
You see you cannot surprise God....you cannot say to God.." well what if when you
create the New Earth and The New Heaven and some angel rebels again and you
throw that angel down to the new earth and the whole process starts again " ?
" What if another eve rebels and another adam takes from eve and mankind falls
again ? "
NOOO... because God is already there and knows what will happen in the eternity of
eternities...YOU CANNOT SURPRISE GOD ..
GOD WOULD NOT SAY, " UMMM I DID'NT KNOW THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN ? "
If you could surprise God He would'nt be the all knowing all seeing ..omnipresent
God that He is ...would He ?
He IS ETERNAL....OUTSIDE OF OUR BOX...OUTSIDE OF OUR PRE CONCEIVED IDEAS..
OUTSIDE OF OUR IMAGINATIONS....
This is why it says "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
God would not say " Well I haven't created the New Heavens and the New Earth
yet ? how do I know what its going to be like ? I'm still testing it !!"
NOOOO GOD IS ALREADY THERE WITH YOU NOW IN THE NEW EARTH .... not only that
but YOU are seated with Him now ...He can be with
you where you are and is there and in you and at the same time He is at the
start of time and in eternity .
You say " Why are you talking about pieces of paper and God ? "
Well here we have David in time and God is speaking to David and through David
and as you and I draw nearer to God so God draws nearer to us...ahhh
You see God cannot only transport people through time but He can speak through
time ? what ? YES... you see God did'nt have to be there with David !! although
He was there,.. He could also speak to david from the beginning of time where
He is now and from the ending of time where He is now.
In fact God could be speaking to David there and then now but actually
speaking through His Holy Spirit to you now where you are at this moment and
be speaking about His Son on the Cross as He watches Jesus on the Cross at
this very moment dying for your sins
Confused yet ?
And so God/Jesus was not only speaking to David at that time but was there at
the Cross at the same time and at the same time with David in eternity...
You see God can also transport people through time !! " WHAT ? "
Lets look at ..Acts 8:26-40
Here we have Philip and an angel tells philip to go to the desert road,
You see God was already there with the Ethiopian Eunuch and philip meets the
Ethiopian Eunuch and to cut a long story short the Eunuch is baptised...then
what happens ?
Acts 8:39 and 40
the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see
him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40Philip, however, appeared at
Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he
reached Caesarea.?
Now you say " Nooooo " but I say " Yessss "
This happened often in the Old Testament as well...people in fact were and are
transported through time ...time and time again
You see God has all the time in the world !!
You see we serve a God that is far bigger than our imaginations..
Do you think that Jesus speaking to Moses and Elijah at the
" Transfiguration " was a vision ? or do you think they were actually there ?
God could have transported them through time and shown them at this place with
Jesus at the transfiguration ? and as Moses talked the the " Great I AM " at
the burning bush ...God could have transported him to the mount at the same
time ? or from eternity ? or from anywhere within time.
So why am I speaking about time and transporting people and such ?
The purpose of this is to see that the God that you serve is more than able to
speak to you about the past present and future and not only that, speak through
you to others about the past present and future, because He is in the past,
present and future and as you draw near to Him , He will draw near to you.
And as God draws nearer to you is it any wonder that God can tell you about
someone else ? is it any wonder that God can tell you about the future ?
Is it any wonder that God can tell you about the past ? is it any wonder that
God can heal you ? any wonder that God can give you a tongue to speak ? as He
is in all places at once ?
Any wonder that God can do miracles ? any wonder that God can enable you to
interpret tongues ?
I Corinthians 12:8-11
These gifts are identified in I Corinthians 12:8-11 "For to one is given by
the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same
Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing
by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles;
to another prophecy;
to another discering of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to a
nother the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the
selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will."
Guess what my pastor said at Church on sunday morning ?
AFTER I had typed out the name of this message entitled
( What is your Spiritual gift ) ?
and he would'nt have known about this ?
He said...." people say ..what is your spiritual gift ?, but no where in the
bible does it ask this question ..."
And he was right, but it does say " Desire the gifts , desire the greater gifts
"
And so we move from " Talking and listening to God and onto relationship with
God and the Holy Spirit and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and we serve God and
give ourselves to God and God gives gifts to us as Paul says and said.
You say " its a bit early in the studies for gifts ? is'nt it ?
I say " No its not "
Let the " Giftings of the Holy Spirit be our focus this month ...not just to
seek and desire but to put into practice "
WHAT IS YOUR SPIRITUAL GIFT ?
Ask yourself these questions ?
What is my gift ?
Can I desire a gift ?
How will God use me with this gift ?
How can I put this gift into practice ?
Pray with me now and ask the Great Creator Lord of heaven and earth to give you
a desire to seek after and to desire Him most of all above all things and with
this desire a gift..
That He might be glorified through this gift in all things
and that the body of believers might be built up, not just that but that people
who have not yet come to know Jesus as their saviour will hear Him speak through
you as you use the gift given by Him and that you will find His unmeasurable
love to you and for others through this gift.
Speak out these words with me now and wait on God...
Lord God creator and sustainer of all things in Jesus name I come to you and
ask that you might give me a desire to seek you above all else and that you
might give me that desire for your Holy Spirit gifts, Lord show me
As my
relationship grows with you, use me Lord in the gift that you so much want
to give me , more so in fact than I desire the gift, and as I give myself
to you, you desire to give to me.
Lord you bestowed gifts on me when you ascended on high and you gave me
the gift of salvation, help me to see that you have already given all that I
need but I desire to go further in relationship with you and desire the gift
of ________.
Most of all I will desire you above all else and your salvation from ongoing
troubles and tribulations in Jesus name amen